Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG)

I'm pretty tuned into what is going on with the 2nd Amendment/gun control discussions in this country. I dutifully check the NRA-ILA website and contact my legislators at least a couple of times each week. I have voiced my support or opposition on pending legislation on POPVOX and have even taken the battle to the HuffPo discussion boards, which can be very interesting sometimes. I'm a member and financially support NRA (Life), 2nd Amendment Foundation, GOA, NSSF, VGOC, NAGR and maybe even a few others that I've forgotten.

In all this I have witnessed the negative impact of Bloomberg and his MAIG organization. It seems like there is some action daily from these guys. They have a good email campaign and grassroots communication (I'm on their contact list). What I do not see is a focused and coordinated effort to neutralize the MAIG actions. There is no single group or combination of groups that has developed and communicated a strategy to take them on.

Am I missing something here? I'm ready for marching orders from the pro-gun leadership and (at least my opinion) there does not seem to be anything forthcoming.

I would be interested in the thoughts of others on this.

If you enjoyed reading about "Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG)" here in TheHighRoad.org archive, you'll LOVE our community. Come join TheHighRoad.org today for the full version!

AlbertH

March 14, 2013, 07:01 AM

Instead of waiting for others to take action, why not lead the charge in your area. Talk is free actions take time, money, and have consequences.

Personally I feel that the main reason America is falling apart is complacency. Many seem to want to complain while few seem to want to take action.

Volunteer, My wife and I volunteer for many different organizations. The first thing we notice when it comes time to show up and help is that we will rarely see anyone under the age of 40 participating.

As long as the ME FIRST generation continues to remain complacent and expect others to do the work, their voices will continue to be ignored.

Al

beatledog7

March 14, 2013, 07:10 AM

It's all in the name. The same thing happens with bills in legislatures: Defense of Marriage Act; Violence Against Women Act, Affordable HealthCare Act...

They're named something that sounds appealing to make opposing them politically risky. Their underlying agenda matters little or not at all to people who can't see beyond the name. Fighting them means outing their real purpose, but that means saying words that many will only hear as, "I oppose the fight against illegal guns."

Rimfaxe

March 14, 2013, 07:14 AM

agreed. I know the Mayor in my area is a MAIG participant. I have taken action through letters and will be vocal at election time. I have no problem addressing this locally however with Bloomberg's organization and with the volume of money and resources, it would take a large scale centralized (and well funded) effort to neutralize it. To my knowledge none of the organizations have specifically taken this on.

I'm curious why none of the groups that I belong to haven't provided any specific direction against them. It could be a matter of pragmatic priorities, but there are a lot of television and radio ads that are getting out there right now along with a pretty slick auto-dialing 'connect to your legislator' with xyz talking points, etc.

I have not seen any discussion on the potential impact of the organization, so for me this is either a lower priority for them (but I do not know why) or it is a blind spot (my hunch/fear). Either way, I would like to know.

I'm going to a regional NRA meeting in the next couple of weeks and plan to bring it up there.

Edit: I'm also thinking... where are the pro-gun billionaires that could counter this control-freak NY Mayor? There is no one who would or could step up for this? They can't all be progressive democrat liberal gun control supporters....

OilyPablo

March 14, 2013, 07:25 AM

My mayor joined MAG and claims the police chief said it's a good org. Myself and others are telling him to quit. It must be a hard thing to get out of, because he is dragging his feet.

Get out there and rally with the people who have mayors with no respect for our Constitution. Most mayors are relatively easy to contact and crave attention and a higher office.

Jaxondog

March 14, 2013, 10:14 AM

Instead of waiting for others to take action, why not lead the charge in your area. Talk is free actions take time, money, and have consequences.

Personally I feel that the main reason America is falling apart is complacency. Many seem to want to complain while few seem to want to take action.

Volunteer, My wife and I volunteer for many different organizations. The first thing we notice when it comes time to show up and help is that we will rarely see anyone under the age of 40 participating.

As long as the ME FIRST generation continues to remain complacent and expect others to do the work, their voices will continue to be ignored.

Al
Give that man a ceegar, you hit it on the nose. Young people are expecting the old timer's to handle it, that's not enough. We have to get the young involved or we may just lose this fight.

Rimfaxe

March 14, 2013, 12:21 PM

It is a waste of time to try to confront this organization individually. It is like that Chinese guy standing in front of that line of tanks in tiananmen square.

It would require a national perspective, money, people and a plan to counter the propaganda and discredit them. We also have the Obama machine 'Organizing for Action' that I don't think has gotten up to full momentum yet. This could be pretty grim if both of these organizations start coordinating.

I would like to discuss ideas of how to minimize, expose, discredit, or neutralize the impacts of these groups.

JRH6856

March 14, 2013, 01:00 PM

It's all in the name. The same thing happens with bills in legislatures: Defense of Marriage Act; Violence Against Women Act, Affordable HealthCare Act...

They're named something that sounds appealing to make opposing them politically risky. Their underlying agenda matters little or not at all to people who can't see beyond the name. Fighting them means outing their real purpose, but that means saying words that many will only hear as, "I oppose the fight against illegal guns."

Which is why I consistently refer to the group as "Mayors Against LEGAL Guns." When someone tries to correct me, they have given me their attention and I have an opportunity to expose the true agenda.

ATBackPackin

March 15, 2013, 11:44 AM

Which is why I consistently refer to the group as "Mayors Against LEGAL Guns." When someone tries to correct me, they have given me their attention and I have an opportunity to expose the true agenda.
Exactly! What mayor ISN'T against illegal guns?????:confused:

powell&hyde

March 15, 2013, 09:18 PM

SAF recently ran a program exposing these so called maig's.

http://www.saf.org/images/maig.pdf

hso

March 20, 2013, 08:02 AM

Folks,

Ranting about and just talking about MAIG isn't what we need to spend our time on.

How to counter them is what's important.

Many mayors are members because they've not been educated on their actual goals and because they've not been made aware of the consequences. That's because WE are not going to OUR mayor and being proactive and explaining that this is a controversial organization that they should avoid. You and I and other members need to actually go to our mayor and our mayoral candidates and simply point out that MAIG is a highly controversial organization that can cause political headaches for them. That very mild cautionary message may help keep many mayors and mayoral candidates from falling into their camp.

If you want to organize local groups, look to your state and local 2A organizations and Friends of the NRA, local Wild Turkey, Quail, Ducks Unlimited, etc. organizations for people who will help or that you can mobilize to take the same message to the local mayor. Numbers matter and the more of us that can sit and tell the closest elected official that MAIG isn't an organization to align themselves with the better.

Shadow 7D

March 20, 2013, 08:25 AM

what IS highly effective is to confront it LOCALLY
there were more than a few mayors in Alaska that have lost their reelections and their membership in Boomy's group was mentioned, NOT popular

So you make it an issue locally,
You make the issue that Bloomberg is pulling the local Mayors strings, you paint him a puppet, you ask if locals want the place turned into a mini NY or Chicago
If you make membership so painful, that most mayors won't join, your rob them of their reach.

If you enjoyed reading about "Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG)" here in TheHighRoad.org archive, you'll LOVE our community. Come join TheHighRoad.org today for the full version!